Korean Air (KE, Seoul Incheon) and Asiana Airlines (OZ, Seoul Incheon) are curtailing their already limited Chinese networks as demand from the once crucial market remains sluggish amidst political tensions, the Yonhap News Agency has reported.

Korean Air will suspend the Seoul Gimpo-Beijing Capital route on August 1, 2023, and the Seoul Incheon-Xiamen route on August 8. Both services will be paused at least until the end of October 2023. In turn, the Gimpo-Xiamen route will be suspended after October 28.

Rival Asiana Airlines is planning to pause its Gimpo-Beijing Capital route on July 6, followed by the Incheon-Shenzhen route on July 8.

May 2023 traffic between China and South Korea was just over 20% of that in May 2019, underlining the very slow recovery in demand. While the two countries have had strained relations for years over South Korea's ties to the United States, tensions have worsened in recent months after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol took a more pro-Taiwan stand. In contrast, demand to Japan has recovered to around 75% of pre-pandemic levels, while traffic to the US is already back to its 2019 numbers.

The ch-aviation Commercial Aviation Operator Capacity Data module shows that 20 passenger airlines currently proffer 133,487 weekly scheduled one-way seats between South Korea and China. Korean Air is the market leader with a 19.5% share, followed by China Eastern Airlines (16.5%) and Asiana Airlines (14.9%).